As the season approaches its climax, Raiders find themselves in a battle to avoid falling into the relegation play off zone. Ideally two wins in the last three games would see them safe and so this week’s match against CS Stags at Roundstone Lane is a must win game.
With Stags fifth in the league and Raiders eighth the hosts had a tough battle ahead of them. The squad selected this week had only one change from the previous game. Austin Steele replacing Josh Taylor.
Conditions for play were ideal, firm pitch, no wind and warm sunshine. Raiders started proceedings attacking the southern end of the ground.
The hosts made a good start getting close to Stags’ line through sound teamwork. The visitors managed to prevent a score but within a minute Raiders set up a catch and drive from a lineout and skipper, Elliott Luke touched down. The conversion went wide but the hosts had a 5-0 lead after six minutes.
Stags conceded several penalties which enabled Raiders to play their rugby in the right areas of the pitch. With fifteen minutes played the hosts scored a second catch and drive try, again it was Elliott Luke who scored at the base of the maul. Ed Hartley converted to extend the lead to 12-0.
The visitors looked dangerous when in possession, but the home side defended well and prevented any score, until the twenty-fourth minute when they kicked a penalty to bring the score to 12-3.
From the twenty-fifth minute Raiders’ coaches rotated players from the bench throughout the game. The home side certainly had dominance in the scrum and plenty of quality possession from the lineout. Raiders gave away a rash of penalties in the latter part of the half which enabled the visitors to exert plenty of pressure on them.
The home side’s defence rebuffed the visitors attack through good team defence. Stags almost scored from a good handling move but an outstanding piece of cover defence by Jared Penfold prevented them from crossing the line. Although the visitors pressed hard before the break, they were unable to cross the Raiders’ try line.
Half time score: Worthing Raiders 12 CS Stags 3
With Raiders now playing towards the northern end of the ground, Stags restarted the game.
Stags started well but continued solid defence by the hosts kept them out and several excellent individual contributions, such as the turnover Luke Gill won in the twelfth minute, enabled Raiders to get back on the offensive.
After fourteen minutes, Stags were caught offside twenty metres in front of their posts and Ed Hartley took the opportunity to extend their lead to 15-3 with a well-struck penalty.
The visitors continued to look dangerous in broken play and eventually scored a converted try in the seventeenth minute to close the gap to 15-10.
Sam Cook unfortunately had to leave the game through injury having been hurt in the build up to the try.
The visitors were guilty of giving away three penalties in quick succession and from the last of these Elliott Luke scored his third try from another well executed catch and drive. With the conversion missed Raiders led twenty points to ten with ten minutes left to play.
From the restart, Stags kicked the ball directly into touch, giving Raiders a scrum on halfway. The visitors were penalised at the scrum, and the resulting touch finder gave them another great attacking position.
The forwards again mauled the ball towards the visitors’ try line but when forward momentum ceased, Austin Steele made a break for the line, stepping past a couple of defenders before passing to Tom Meyer to score the bonus point try. The conversion again went wide but with eight minutes left the lead had stretched to 25-10.
The visitors came back strongly and scored a second converted try in the thirty-fourth minute, 25-17. The encounter had become a bit of a nail biter at this point but in the thirty-eighth minute Ed Hartley slotted a second penalty to extend the lead to 28-17.
The game ended with Stags on the attack, but time had run out for them, and Raiders took a well-deserved win.
Worthing Raiders 28 CS Stags 1863 17
Plenty of excitement and good rugby for the near four hundred crowd to enjoy. Five more points in the battle to avoid the relegation zone.
Much to admire in the home team’s performance but as Head Coach, Ben Coulson, said in the after-game huddle,” still plenty to improve upon”. There were plenty of candidates for the Egremont Man of the Match, but Skipper Elliott Luke received the award for scoring three tries and his leadership on the field.
Team: 1. Struan Robertson 2. Elliott Luke – Captain 3. Tom Adams 4. Jack Lake 5. Ollie Crow 6. Luke Gill 7. Callum Butler 8. Dan Wallis Downham 9. Tom Sanderson 10. Tom Meyer 11. Will Beer 12. Ben Heber 13. Joel Andrews 14. Jared Penfold 15. Ed Hartley
Bench: 16. Sam Cook 17. Alex Havers 18. Austin Steele
TR: George Gatford
Scorers:
Tries: Elliott Luke (3), Tom Meyer
Conversations: Ed Hartley
Penalties: Ed Hartley (2)
